Recreational Fishing-Hunting - Do You and What's Your View on It ?

[His_Highness]

A recent post in the Official Pets and Animal Thread (My all time favorite thread) is what got me curious about this.

I'm an avid fisherman. Love being on or near the water and love catching and eating shrimp and fish. I'm also big on conservation of our natural resources. I don't know that I'd consider myself a full out tree-hugger, to coin a phrase, but I do have some rules I adhere to such as if you kill it you gotta eat it and leave the area cleaner than how you found it.

Hunting...I'll be honest...I don't have the heart for it although I don't fault those who do as long as they treat mother nature with respect. A buddy of mine is into hunting and when I told him 'I couldn't kill Bambi' he suggested we do a little test......he staged two pictures on a computer and brought them up separately. First pic was a wide eyed doe and my immediate reaction was 'never happen'. Second picture was a big buck with a huge rack and it kind of caught me by surprise when I had to think about it before coming to the same conclusion that I'd rather not.

I'm not talking about those who have to hunt and fish for subsistence purposes.....just curious about everyone's take on the recreational.

 

[Vicki]

I abhor recreational hunting because I love animals more than most humans, not all, of course. Animals have never hurt me in any way shape or form. I cannot say the same about human beings.

I understand the need for population control, but I still don't like it. I have no problem with people that hunt to live because I understand that they are using the whole animal to survive.

I will never willingly kill any animal. It would haunt me for the rest of my life.

 

[Derrrpp]

@His_Highness you almost could have been describing me! I also believe "don't kill it unless you're gonna eat it." I also like fishing, although the last couple years I (sadly) haven't been able to make it out much. Hopefully this summer will be better. I'm not a hunter (I've went hunting a few times in the past but it just wasn't my thing), though I have no qualms about eating a nice tasty venison steak.

 

[lwien]

I abhor trophy hunting. Killing something and than putting their head on a wall, to me, is macabre to say the least. I feel the same way about fishing even though I love to fish. I would NEVER put a marlins body on my wall.

On the other hand, if you in fact eat what you have killed without taking any glory in taking an animals life, that's a different story.

Weather it be fishing or hunting or even growing your own food, there is a primal satisfaction when consuming that food that one will never get when consuming food bought at a grocery store. It's kind of in our DNA I think.

I don't hunt, but I would think that it is MUCH more humane to quickly end an animals life than what an animal has to go through at the slaughter houses before their remains are served up in nicely, plastic wrapped packages.

 

[Chainfish]

Apart from killing to eat, there is no reason. I realise with fishing that they "catch and release", but that's basically just aggravating a creature for shit n giggles, and that's just bullying.
And as for big game trophy hunting, don't get me started. One person recently pointed out to me that animal reserves need the revenue of breeding animals for hunters to kill, to keep the others safe. When i then suggested this may also be a good solution to saving the starving children of the third world, he realised how ridiculous it is. But you can be sure some sick fucks would sign up to that also

 

[SSVUN~YAH]

A recent post in the Official Pets and Animal Thread (My all time favorite thread) is what got me curious about this.

I'm an avid fisherman. Love being on or near the water and love catching and eating shrimp and fish. I'm also big on conservation of our natural resources. I don't know that I'd consider myself a full out tree-hugger, to coin a phrase, but I do have some rules I adhere to such as if you kill it you gotta eat it and leave the area cleaner than how you found it.

Hunting...I'll be honest...I don't have the heart for it although I don't fault those who do as long as they treat mother nature with respect. A buddy of mine is into hunting and when I told him 'I couldn't kill Bambi' he suggested we do a little test......he staged two pictures on a computer and brought them up separately. First pic was a wide eyed doe and my immediate reaction was 'never happen'. Second picture was a big buck with a huge rack and it kind of caught me by surprise when I had to think about it before coming to the same conclusion that I'd rather not.

I'm not talking about those who have to hunt and fish for subsistence purposes.....just curious about everyone's take on the recreational.

Good thread.

I will never willingly kill any animal. It would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Unless it was attacking or threatening I agree, don't you just hate it when frogs cover the road after some rains?

 

[Derrrpp]

...I would think that it is MUCH more humane to quickly end an animals life than what an animal has to go through at the slaughter houses before their remains are served up in nicely, plastic wrapped packages.

True that! Those slaughter houses are horrible, horrible places!

 

[His_Highness]

@Derrrpp - Yep..looks like we're cut from the same cloth on this. It's kinda ironic though...I couldn't shoot Bambi or her brother but if someone else did it for me ..... I too enjoy venison

@lwien - Your comment about slaughterhouses versus a quick kill via hunting made me think of those folks who think hunting, if its more sportsmanlike and a challenge is ok. Bow hunting versus a rifle is much more challenging but doesn't lend itself to a quick kill.

 

[lwien]

@lwien - Your comment about slaughterhouses versus a quick kill via hunting made me think of those folks who think hunting, if its more sportsmanlike and a challenge is ok. Bow hunting versus a rifle is much more challenging but doesn't lend itself to a quick kill.

Yeah. In the sporting world, it's the notion of evening out the odds. It's kinda like fishing for marlin with 12 lb. test.

What really ticks me off in regards to hunting, and especially bow hunting, are those hunters who are too fucking lazy to track down an animal that they've wounded. If you've wounded an animal with your arrow, you better fucking take the time and effort to track him/her down and I don't give a fuck if it takes a week. Ok, now I'm getting all worked up...........

 

[treeman]

I've never had a go fishing or hunting. My friend went sea fishing on a boat, and when they didn't catch anything they just hooked up the sonar and went to the shoal, caught loads of fish. They kept them for food. I'm almost more against that than I am hunting, poor fish don't have a chance. . .

However here in Scotland we've killed all the wolves and deer numbers are out of control. We have a cull on them but we rarely kill enough of them for population control. While I've never had an opportunity I think I'd quite like to hunt some deer. . . I definitely think it would demand some sort of determination and could be quite rewarding.

I'd also quite like to butcher one and have a freezer full of meat. . . I reckon it could be quite a good experience and be quite a nice thing to learn.

 

[Vicki]

Unless it was attacking or threatening I agree, don't you just hate it when frogs cover the road after some rains?

Yes!! I accidentally squished a gecko the other day, and was so sad. It was a baby too.

 

[His_Highness]

The closest I've ever come to hunting was when we had wild boar tearing up the backyards at night. Man! Those things could clear a couple yards a night. The buddy I mentioned who hunts suggested we bait the area around the pond in my backyard and spend the night with two of his rifles and wait on some ham. I think my wife said it best when she said 'Oh, now that's a good idea, you two wing-nuts in the dark, getting high, with loaded rifles in a residential neighborhood waiting to shoot wild pigs...what could possibly go wrong'? Don't you just hate it when your significant other mocks you.........appropriately.

 

[RUDE BOY]

I'm not really into either hunting or fishing but right now where i live Hogs are out of control and need to be culled a lot more then they have been in the past, they're also not sweet little cuddly things but big, nasty, and stinky along with being very aggressive so someone killing a few even if they are not fit to eat doesn't bother me at all.

Deer are also around in numbers I've never seen before and they are becoming a real hazard now too if you drive at night, seeing at least 3-4 every week dead(mostly Does)alongside the roads often along with the car that was totaled after hitting one but they're still not going to increase the bag limit or let you kill a Doe as i understand it. I would have a hard time killing a deer if I wasn't starving myself but could fell different if I or a loved one hit one and totaled a car and suffered injury.

 

[capcoho]

Love fishing and would like to get into hunting. I would definitely have a hard time shooting,gutting and butchering the animal.

They have reintroduced elk to some areas around here which would be an ideal animal to hunt. What really interested me is when they reintroduced the elk the large predators that were void in the area all came back (wolves, cougars and grizzly) within a couple years.

As for the morals and ethics of catch and release fishing I do put them aside as I enjoy it so much. Not much for me can top hiking to a mountain lake and catching trout underneath snowcapped peaks in crystal clear fresh water. On the other hand we have many stocked lakes here that are "put and take" lakes that people are encouraged to catch and keep their fish.

 

[killick]

When I was a kid everyone used to hunt and fish. Always for food. I don't really remember seeing anyone with mounted trophies (other than antlers - what else are you going to do with them?), and sometimes these godawful gun racks made out of various bits of deer.

I used to enjoy fishing and hunting before I wound up in the Military. I've fished a few times over the years (most notably over the side of a warship, north of the Arctic Circle, off the coast of Norway, but didn't catch anything). I've gone hunting a few times over the past few years, before the injuries made it too difficult to do much walking in heavy bush. I do go duck & goose hunting on occasion, because there isn't as much slogging through bush involved. But mainly it's just an excuse to go out in the country and enjoy the sky. At the end of the day we can say how many fierce animals we scared, and how many holes we shot in the target at the gravel pit earlier... I'm more a fan of paper targets now, but I do remember how fun it used to be, too.

Now, we *do* have some 'trophy' animals mounted. These were mounted by a vet grandfather. These were animals that were brought to him injured that he couldn't save. Ducks, a Lynx, a few other animals. So he did this. I find them a bit wierd, but they were the wifes grandfathers and she has fond memories of their house in the old days...

 

[lwien]

I think my wife said it best when she said 'Oh, now that's a good idea, you two wing-nuts in the dark, getting high, with loaded rifles in a residential neighborhood waiting to shoot wild pigs...what could possibly go wrong'?

 

[His_Highness]

I'm not really into either hunting or fishing but right now where i live Hogs are out of control and need to be culled a lot more then they have been in the past, they're also not sweet little cuddly things but big, nasty, and stinky along with being very aggressive so someone killing a few even if they are not fit to eat doesn't bother me at all.

Deer are also around in numbers I've never seen before and they are becoming a real hazard now too if you drive at night, seeing at least 3-4 every week dead(mostly Does)alongside the roads often along with the car that was totaled after hitting one but they're still not going to increase the bag limit or let you kill a Doe as i understand it. I would have a hard time killing a deer if I wasn't starving myself but could fell different if I or a loved one hit one and totaled a car and suffered injury.

I know what ya mean...I moved to FL from NJ and went from running into the occasional garter snake, possum, raccoon to often coming into contact with gators, hogs, deer, armadillos, hawks, owls, eagles, water moccasins, pigmy rattlers, huge turtles, huge spiders and turkey buzzards. I had read articles about the hogs tearing up property before they made their way to my backyard but still couldn't get over it when I saw them at dawn one morning. The deer are everywhere. I surprised two in the front of my house when I took the recycling out a few nights ago.

I've been told that these 'conservation areas' in my sub-division and others are linked, natural byways between the St Johns river and other larger wooded areas that allow the animals to follow natural ancient pathways .... not sure how much I believe it BUT I do know that deer tend to follow the same pathways year after year which is why hunters use the same tree blinds and pathways each year.

 

[grokit]

Imo all meat is murder, unless the animal kills itself for your consumption. Having said this I'm okay with it, and find hunting/fishing for food more acceptable than the disconnect that happens in restaurants and supermarkets. Killing for trophy is a crime and should be outlawed, just like killing endangered species.

I've always found this as hilarious as it is illuminating:

He sat down.
The waiter approached.
'Would you like to see the menu?' he said,
'or would you like meet the Dish of the Day?'

'Huh?' said Ford.
'Huh?' said Arthur.
'Huh?' said Trillian.
'That's cool,' said Zaphod, 'we'll meet the meat.'

- snip -

A large dairy animal approached Zaphod Beeblebrox's table,
a large fat meaty quadruped of the bovine type with
large watery eyes, small horns and what might almost have
been an ingratiating smile on its lips.

'Good evening', it lowed and sat back heavily on its haunches,
'I am the main Dish of the Day. May I interest you in the parts
of my body?'

It harrumphed and gurgled a bit, wriggled its hind quarters in
to a more comfortable position and gazed peacefully at them.

Its gaze was met by looks of startled bewilderment from
Arthur and Trillian, a resigned shrug from Ford Prefect and
naked hunger from Zaphod Beeblebrox.

'Something off the shoulder perhaps?' suggested the animal,
'Braised in a white wine sauce?'

'Er, your shoulder?' said Arthur in a horrified whisper.

'But naturally my shoulder, sir,' mooed the animal contentedly,
'nobody else's is mine to offer.'

Zaphod leapt to his feet and started prodding and feeling
the animal's shoulder appreciatively.

'Or the rump is very good,' murmured the animal. 'I've been
exercising it and eating plenty of grain, so there's a lot
of good meat there.'

It gave a mellow grunt, gurgled again and started to chew
the cud. It swallowed the cud again.

'Or a casselore of me perhaps?' it added.

'You mean this animal actually wants us to eat it?' whispered
Trillian to Ford.

'Me?' said Ford, with a glazed look in his eyes, 'I don't mean
anything.'

'That's absolutely horrible,' exclaimed Arthur, 'the most revolting
thing I've ever heard.'

'What's the problem Earthman?' said Zaphod, now transfering his
attention to the animal's enormous rump.

'I just don't want to eat an animal that's standing there
inviting me to,' said Arthur, 'It's heartless.'

'Better than eating an animal that doesn't want to be
eaten,' said Zaphod.

'That's not the point,' Arthur protested. Then he thought about it
for a moment. 'Alright,' he said, 'maybe it is the point. I don't
care, I'm not going to think about it now. I'll just ... er ... I
think I'll just have a green salad,' he muttered.

'May I urge you to consider my liver?' asked the animal,
'it must be very rich and tender by now, I've been force-feeding
myself for months.'

'A green salad,' said Arthur emphatically.

'A green salad?' said the animal, rolling his eyes disapprovingly
at Arthur.

'Are you going to tell me,' said Arthur, 'that I shouldn't have
green salad?'

'Well,' said the animal, 'I know many vegetables that are
very clear on that point. Which is why it was eventually
decided to cut through the whole tangled problem and breed
an animal that actually wanted to be eaten and was capable of
saying so clearly and distinctly. And here I am.'

It managed a very slight bow.

'Glass of water please,' said Arthur.

'Look,' said Zaphod, 'we want to eat, we don't want to make
a meal of the issues. Four rare stakes please, and hurry.
We haven't eaten in five hundred and sevebty-six thousand
million years.'

The animal staggered to its feet. It gave a mellow gurgle.
'A very wise coice, sir, if I may say so. Very good,' it
said, 'I'll just nip off and shoot myself.'

He turned and gave a friendly wink to Arthur.
'Don't worry, sir,' he said, 'I'll be very humane.'

It waddled unhurriedly off to the kitchen.



~ Douglas Adams, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

 

[macbill]

I grew up with a Dad who was a sportsman fanatic. Every year he'd travel to Colorado from the Bay Area just to bag a couple deer. We ate them, of course. And pheasants, doves not so much. In fact, we seldom had a family vacation, 'cause any time he took off from work, he was either fishing or hunting. Dad grew up in extreme poverty, and his parents would literally give my Dad and his brother a couple bullets to go looking for dinner. Naturally, they were not city dwellers.

I don't hunt at all. But I have no qualms with harvesting deer: we've killed off all their predators, and too many, they would starve in a severe winter. Dad cured me of fishing. We could be fishing the SF Bay when the striped bass would follow the anchovies into the Bay. We could all limit out in the first hour, except one, and he would fish 12 -14 hrs looking for that last one.

 

[t-dub]

but I do have some rules I adhere to such as if you kill it you gotta eat it and leave the area cleaner than how you found it.

Good rules. I pick up trash every time I hike or visit the beach or a state or federal park. Take only pictures, leave only footprints.

I would only hunt if I needed the food for me and my family to eat. Period. And I would apologize to that animal for taking its life. Sport/trophy hunting pisses me off. Killing is a serious endeavor not a recreational activity. Even fishing. How would you like to have a hook shoved through your mouth? Must feel good. Pest control is also a valid activity but you won't see me varmint hunting. I know a few bow hunters who expertly track and take food for their families each year. They simply find using firearms too easy.

Anyways if you kill something you will have to gut it and prep it. This is not an easy or savory task. To get an idea watch this guy skin this deer in under two minutes. He is an artist. Amazing knife handling skills.

Spoiler: Guy skins deer in under 2 minutes

 

[His_Highness]

@t-dub - I can only imagine how many times that guy skinned to become that efficient. Looks like the deer was bled first which limits the gore.

@grokit - Interesting perspective....ordering venison at a restaurant or experiencing/committing to the request. I enjoyed the story ...

 

[EveryDayAmnesiac]

Unless it was attacking or threatening I agree

Well, sometimes you just gotta be proactive though:

Yeah, he's good - but is he Tywin Lannister good?

I don't hunt or fish - never feel, or felt, the urge. I don't like guns, and I don't like worms - or fish, unless a good chef makes it real nice like. Rarely ever even eat meat. Just sayin'.

 

[SSVUN~YAH]

proactive though:

Ha! I was doing it all wrong, I would Duck & Cover. Speaking of ducks...

I really like my internal batt model. I use it when I go down to the pond and read comics and feed the feral cats. Word must be spreading since there seems to be more of 'em every damn day. Cat Man, they'll call me...

You threw me a curve ball on that one. I thought for sure you were going to say feed the ducks. Then I remembered "that incident" you had and why they posted "that sign".

 

[EveryDayAmnesiac]

Yeah, why do you think they call me "duck fucker" ?

Although, really, that sign was more about my dog:

Spoiler: Do not look at this

​

 

[VAPEHUNTER]

I guess ↑that's↑ how we get these↓